The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
Nicholas was born 8 March 1758 at Bethlehem Township, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, a son of Daniel Okeson and Angelechea Albertson, both of Dutch descent with lineages to the Dutch Colony of New York. The Okeson and Silverthorn families were associated as neighbors, intermarriages, and travel to Pennsylvania. Nicholas Albertson Okeson, youngest son of Daniel Okeson, married Susan Silverthorn, a sister of William and John, about 1782 at Hunterdon County. They were the parents of eight children: John, Daniel, Sarah, Abigail, William B., Mary, Margaret and Samuel Albertson.
Nicholas served as a private. As given by the Biographical Encyclopedia of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry Counties, Pg. 848-852:
During the early days of the Revolutionary war an order was issued by an officer of the British army to the people living in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, to go out, under command of a detailed officer, to repair the roads and bridges in that portion of the colony for the passage of the main army. Among those thus called out were Nicholas A. Okeson and John Silverthorn, then lads of seventeen years, and particular friends and chums. Young Okeson received an order which he did not willingly obey, not being in sympathy with the army of the King. The officer who commanded the work struck him with the flat of his sword. An active engagement at once took place between the officer and the two young lads, the officer getting the worst of the encounter. They quickly fled, and as fast as their horses would carry them, made their way to the army of General Washington on Long Island, where they both enlisted for the war, just a few days before the battle of Long Island, in which they took part.
Nicholas died 14 April 1842 at Milford Township, Juniata County, Pennsylvania. He was buried at the Lower Tuscarora Church Cemetery of Juniata County.
Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!
Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.
Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here:
Send your submission1, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space 1Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.
